The Cast Away of Iron Man
by TwilightSparkle3562
Summary: Based on the 1994 Iron Man Animated Series: On October 31, 1999, Tony Stark and Julia Carpenter were travelling to Cairo for a computer conference aboard Egypt Air Flight 990 when their plane crashes off the coast of Nantucket Island, Massachusetts and after surviving the crash, find out that they are on an inhabited island and must rely on each other to survive.
1. The Morning of October 30th

Disclaimer: I do not own "Iron Man: the Animated Series," or its characters. It is property of Marvel Comics entertainment and the Walt Disney Company.

Dedicated to the passengers and crew of Egypt Air Flight 990, we remember you 15 years later.

"The Cast Away of Iron Man"

By TwilightSparkle3562

Chapter 1

"The Morning of October 30th"

It was just after morning on October 30, 1999 in the laboratory of Stark Enterprises in Los Angeles, California and Tony Stark was sitting at a computer talking to his computer program, HOMER and looking at what appeared to be computer data scrolling across the screen. The head of Stark Enterprises had been up all night and was tired and looking forward to heading for Cairo where in several hours, he and his Chief Operating Officer, Julia Carpenter, would leave for the Cairo computer conference on Egypt Air Flight 990, but from how Tony was feeling, you might wonder if he was ready to go on this trip.

"Ugh, it just doesn't drag up HOMER," yawned Tony, exhausted from a hard night's work. "The read out says to raise the readout level by 100 meters."

"I believe the readout reads 10 meters," replied HOMER. "Not 100." Tony responded by merely rubbing his hands in his face, trying to concentrate on the task at hand.

"Are you sure?" he asked.

"Well, with all due respect sir," HOMER answered. "I think you require a regenerative amount of human activity." Tony placed his hands off his face and stared back at HOMER, who had jumped out of the screen.

"Huh?" remarked Tony.

"In other words," continued HOMER. "You could use some sleep." Tony was just about to get up from the chair to get himself ready for the journey when Julia Carpenter, his Chief Operating Officer suddenly entered.

"But, you've blown your whistle of opportunity for a snooze, big time, Sleepy," she said as she entered holding two cups of coffee in her hands. "Since we are winging to the Cairo computer conference in several hours."

Tony yawned as Julia placed his cup of coffee on the desk.

"I wish you'd remind me sooner," Tony replied, clearly not up to being pushed around by his Chief Operating Officer and close friend.

"Now look, Tony," she said. "I'm not your mother, I'm your C.O.O. Our relationship is strictly professional. Just the way you like it." Based on some of their recent adventures, you might say that Tony and Julia may have more than just a professional relationship. They both knew it and yet, they refused to tell their true feelings for one another.

"Look," replied Tony. "All I said was…" But Julia interrupted in the middle of his sentence.

"And that's fine," she said. "Believe me, getting married to each other would have been the biggest mistake either one of us ever made." Soon her attention turned over to a plant that was under a light just across from them.

"Speaking of which," added Julia. "What is this thingamajig here anyway?" They walked over to the plant as Tony explained.

"Oh, it's a molecular expander," Tony said. "Within two years, we'll have full capability to produce bigger, healthier reliable sources of food. Watch." Pressing a button, a light coming from the overhead shined down on the plant and right before their eyes, the plant seemed to start growing, but then suddenly as quick as grew, it wilted to nothing.

"Uh, marvel at my genius," Tony said sarcastically. All Julia could do was place a hand on his shoulder.

"Don't worry, Tony," replied Julia. "Right now, let's get ready to go. I need to go change and I think you need to freshen up. We got a long flight ahead of us." Tony examined Julia and all she was wearing was a white dress shirt, dark blue vest, blue jeans and brown boots and her red hair was tied in a ponytail.

"You can change when we get to Cairo," he said. Julia gave him a scowl and laughed. "Nice try, Tony, I would rather look like your Chief Operating Officer attending a conference than someone going on vacation."

They both got up and left the laboratory to get themselves ready for the flight. A few hours later, Tony had thrown on his yellow suit jacket and tied on a red tie around his neck. He returned to the lab and grabbed his yellow overcoat. When he arrived, Julia was not present and this Tony grew impatient as she was the one who told him to better be ready in a half an hour.

"She tells me to be ready in a half an hour," he grumbled to himself. "Now who needs to be ready? Like she said, thank God we didn't marry. Otherwise, I would have to be dealing with this quite frequently. Might as well go and check on her." Already behind schedule and with the limousine waiting outside to take them to LAX, an exhausted Tony walked up to Julia's office and knocked on the door.

"Who is it?" she called.

"It's Tony," he replied, trying to hide his tired façade. Julia opened the door slightly and only her eyes were seen.

"Tony, I'm in my underwear," she exclaimed. "Can you give me a few minutes?"

"I can," he said. "But can you hurry up in there? Time waits for no executive you know." Julia opened the door and revealed to be wearing a white full slip over a white bra and white panties.

"You're wearing a slip," Tony remarked, shocked at what his C.O.O was wearing. "I think you need a little privacy, Julia, so I will just head back downstairs."

But, Julia grabbed him by his left arm and pulled him into her office. Tony could see her dark blue business suit was hanging on the door of her office.

"Tony, if we ever decide to get married," she said putting on a clean white blouse. "You will need to get used to seeing your wife in her underwear."

"I thought you said you are not my mother," remarked Tony. "I may be single, but I know my limits when I reach them. You have your privacy and I my privacy."

Julia reached over and grabbed her skirt from its hanger, sliding it on as she stared at Tony.

"True, but remember, you did catch me in inappropriate moments," she said, zipping her skirt and tucking her blouse into it. "Besides, this is what we had to deal with had we gotten married that one time."

"Do you think we should get private rooms in Detroit?" asked Tony. "You're a woman; there are times when your space will be needed." All Julia did at what he said was slide on her suit jacket and buttoned it up. Tony could see a worried look on Julia's face and he began to wonder before Julia continued her sentence.

"True, Tony," she said. "But after my divorce from my ex-husband, I think there are times when privacy isn't really a safe haven."

Tony was now beginning to realize why Julia pulled him into her office. He knew that Julia's daughter, Rachel, was from a previous marriage, but never realized the severity that Julia had during the time of her marriage.

"What are you talking about, Julia?" Tony asked. "Is there something you have been hiding from me for some time?" Julia grabbed her blue high heels and sat down in her office chair, putting her head down in sadness and shame.

"As a matter of fact, Tony," she said, sliding on her high heels. "There is something I have been meaning to tell you, but I will tell you when we get to Cairo." Tony wondered what Julia was talking about as he grabbed her gold pearl necklace from inside her desk. The necklace had special meaning for Julia as Tony personally gave it to her when she was promoted to Chief Operating Officer. Tony walked behind Julia and she held her long red hair up as he placed the necklace around her neck.

"Well, if it makes you feel comfortable, you can tell me later in Detroit," he said as Julia let her hair down. "Right now, you look beautiful and I think we need to get going now. Besides, don't we have an executive room at the Cairo Hilton that you are paying personally?"

"You guessed right," Julia said perking up. She grabbed her blue overcoat and they left the office to make their way towards LAX.

Little did they realize of the unexpected turn of events that was about to follow…


	2. Arriving at LAX

Chapter 2

"Arriving at LAX"

After waiting for Julia to finish dressing, Tony and her left her office and proceeded down to the main lobby of Stark Enterprises where a car was waiting to take them to LAX. Along the way, they Clint otherwise known as Hawkeye, coming in with a grim look on his face, almost like he had been through a personal grudge against someone.

"Hawkeye," said Tony happily. "You're an ugly sight for-."

But Clint interrupted him for in his mind, he had absolutely no time for friends and that he was still angry about the recent breakup of the group, Force Works. He then turned towards Julia with a cold glance towards her.

"You can tell pretty boy Tony that I've come to clear out my locker," he snapped. "Period."

Julia did not take kindly to Clint's outburst and decided to stand up for her boss and close friend.

"Why don't you give Tony a break, Clint?" she suggested. "Not a day goes by that he doesn't regret the loss of your friendship."

Now, Clint was quickly running out of patience with Julia and began to get very defensive towards her.

"Listen, Ms. Executive," he said mockingly. "It's Stark's fault that Force Works broke up. He lied to us, he played us for chumps and you never said one word."

He advanced towards Julia raising his finger in her face. Tony now thought that even though Clint was tough, picking on Julia was going too far and that he knew it was time to step in.

"Hey, Hawkeye," he said. "Hating me is one thing, but Julia never did-."

"All right!" cried Julia breaking the two men up. "Down boys."

So, they did stand down, but Clint still held a grudge as he looked at his well-dressed former colleagues.

"Don't make me break the water hose on you," she said, trying to diffuse the situation as she and Tony left to get into the limo.

"See you later, Clint," growled Tony as he continued to be led away. "We will discuss more of this when we get back from Egypt and make sure you turn in your padlock on your way out."

But, Clint had one more very morbid thing to say as they left under his breath.

"I hope your damn plane crashes," he muttered, not knowing that his prediction would come true.

So, the two executives left Clint alone in the lobby and got in the limo for the short drive to Los Angeles International Airport where they were to board Egypt Air Flight 990 to Cairo, Egypt with a stopover at New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport. Throughout the short drive, Tony was still upset over Clint's sudden about face for the decision for Force Works to break up was all of their own doing, not just Tony and Julia never did anything to break them up like Tony said. Of course, Julia still wanted Tony to focus on their trip to Egypt.

"Forget about Clint," she said. "Just sit back and enjoy the ride from here on in."

"With us in first class?" asked Tony, taking a sip of champagne. "No wonder we spend so much money on first class tickets. I'm not surprised that we are flying in the corporate jet."

"The plane is being in repairs," said Julia. "Besides, I get bored of flying corporate all the time and besides, we have a brief stopover in New York and I need to pick up some perfume at the duty free at JFK."

"Perhaps you're right," sighed Tony. "I should forget about Clint, even after Force Works got back together for that one last stand against the Mandarin, he still holds a grudge against me."

Julia didn't respond to what Tony was saying, but the short drive in the Limo came to an end and at around 12:30pm, they arrived at the Tom Bradley Terminal of Los Angeles International Airport and they got out of the limo and grabbed their suitcases and luggage.

"Don't worry about it," Tony said to the limo driver. "I could use the exercise."

"We'll be back next week on the 7th," added Julia. "Be sure to pick us up then."

"Will do, Miss Carpenter," said the driver and he watched them enter the terminal where they checked in at the Egypt Air check in desk.

Meanwhile, the plane that was to take them to Cairo via New York was running behind schedule. It was supposed to go to JFK Airport, but had made a diversion in Newark, New Jersey for bad weather and was now arriving into Los Angeles two hours behind schedule. The Captain of the flight, Ahmed El-Habashi, was worried that they would not make it back to Cairo on time.

"I'm really worried about getting back to Cairo on time," he said to his first officer, Adel Anwar, who was flying the plane for the landing. "That delay in Newark was costly and we have two premiere passengers flying with us on the return trip."

"Commander, we have executives all the time," said Adel. "They don't mind the delay and maybe we can cut our layover time in New York down a bit and then we can leave there at a decent hour."

"Perhaps so," he sighed. "Until then, we are on a tight schedule. Radio the tower for clearance to land, if you please."

Meanwhile, the relief crew of the Egypt Air jet were getting themselves ready to fly the jet to New York and then proceed to fly the second half of the flight to Cairo. One of them, the relief first officer, Gameel Al-Batouti, had recently been in trouble with the law and felt that the life as he knew it was over. So, he was planning to end it all high over the Atlantic Ocean right after the jet took off from Kennedy Airport.

Back at the airport, 30 other passengers in addition to Tony and Julia were waiting for the jet to arrive and Tony looked up at the board and saw that the Egypt Air plane would be two hours late and that did not sit well with him at all. Tony was never really a patient man to begin with and for the man who controlled Iron Man and saved lives and the world in a patient manner, you might say that Iron Man's biggest test right now was to get on the plane and get to Egypt by the next day. However, Julia had far more important matters on her mind at that moment as she was on the phone with her daughter, Rachel, with whom Tony saved once from the Mandarin.

"Rachel, honey," she said, talking into her cell phone. "It's mom calling you from LAX. I just wanted to check in on you before we get on the plane and I will attempt to call you again once we get to New York and if I don't reach you, you will know that we are on our way to Cairo. I love you very much and keep up the good work on your piano lessons. Bye."

Julia hung up her cell phone and stuck it back in her purse as the Egypt Air Boeing 767 touched down at LAX and taxied over to the gate, much to Tony's relief.

"Well, it's about time that plane got here," he said impatiently looking at his watch which said 2:09pm. "Don't they know that time is money?"

"Yes, I do," said Julia, rising to her feet. "But I also know that its best for the plane to get here in one piece as opposed to no plane at all."

All Tony did was shrug his shoulders and it took about another hour for the plane to be emptied of the passengers from the previous leg and finally at 3:53pm, they started boarding for the first leg of Egypt Air Flight 990 to New York. Because the first leg only had 30 passengers, Tony and Julia were the only ones sitting in the first class cabin while everyone else sat in coach class. All the other passengers would board the jet in New York for the second leg to Cairo. But as they boarded, Julia couldn't but notice the strange behavior of one of the crew members.

"Hey, Tony," she whispered. "That man looks like he is nervous or something. Do you think he's afraid of flying?"

"If he is afraid of flying," replied Tony softly. "Then why is he a pilot to begin with?"

That was a question that continued to boggle Tony and Julia's minds as the jet took off from Los Angeles at 4:53pm heading back across the country to New York's JFK Airport. Little did they know however, that the nervous pilot would set forth a chain of events that would change Tony and Julia's lives forever…


	3. Arriving at JFK

Chapter 3

"Arriving at JFK"

So, despite the delay at LAX, Egypt Air Flight 990 cruised high above the United States at an altitude of 36,000 feet and despite a few bumps of turbulence, the journey to New York was relatively smooth as Tony and Julia enjoyed the comforts of first class all to themselves. For the most part, Tony slept for most of the first leg as he didn't get enough sleep the night before while Julia caught up on her favorite novel, JD Salinger's _The Catcher in The Rye_. Both of them knew that even executives like themselves need to have downtime every now and then and this was a chance to do just that. A few hours after leaving LAX, the jet was nearing New York and Julia needed to use the restroom.

"Tony," she whispered. "I need to go to the bathroom before we land, would please move for me?"

They were sitting right at the front of the jet and Julia could get up easily although she knew that she was only joking with Tony and that she could get up herself. Tony groaned and groggily got up, before Julia sat him back down.

"I was only joking, Sleepy," she laughed and got up to head to the restroom. As she opened the door to the restroom, she saw the co-pilot again coming out of the restroom looking still and nervous as he stared at her, like a sense of lust was forming in his body as he admired Julia and how beautiful she looked. But, trusting her womanly instincts, she ignored the man and proceeded into the restroom while he went back to the cockpit.

By the time Julia got out of the restroom, she sat back down next to Tony and just before midnight, Egypt Air Flight 990 landed at JFK Airport in light fog. Fortunately, this was not a very busy period of time at JFK as it was just after midnight when the plane landed. When the plane pulled up to the gate, only one person got off the plane and both Tony and Julia wanted to get off and stretch their legs, but the flight attendant would not let them do so.

"I'm sorry, Miss Carpenter and Mr. Stark," she said. "We are only going to be in New York for a short period of time. We are behind schedule after all."

"I was going to get some perfume," sighed Julia as she and Tony sat back down in their seats. "But, I'll get some in Cairo."

"Don't worry," said Tony. "You already have enough as it is."

"I'm your Chief Operating Officer, Tony. I need to look good for our colleagues," she replied. "Besides, I'm trying to wash the stench of Clint off of me."

"You're telling me," added Tony. "I hope he can provide me with a good excuse as soon as we get back to California."

So, the two of them stayed in their seats while the rest of the passengers quickly boarded the jet for the 10 hour leg of Flight 990 to Cairo. Julia took this opportunity to call Rachel again, but she just left another message for her daughter that she would call her once they arrived in Cairo.

Meanwhile, the relief crews had switched places with the main crew and they were now making final preparations before takeoff.

"Commander," said Adel. "Haven't you noticed anything strange about Gameel?"

"What about him?" asked the Captain. "He seems fine to me."

"It's just that he has been acting strange from the moment we left Egypt," replied Adel. "Perhaps if we could talk to him-."

"I'm afraid, young man, that it is out of the question," said the Captain, sternly. "We are already behind schedule as it is. We will sort this out with our supervisors once we get back to Cairo."

But, he then smiled at Adel, upon a landmark occasion that was about to befall him and it's an occasion that happens only once in a person's life.

"Besides," he said. "Aren't you getting married in a few days?"

"I am, commander," replied Adel happily. "Maybe we can use that for motivation and we can make good time from here on in."

The two men shared a quick laugh and the Captain made his speech to the passengers and crew as Julia and Tony stretched out their legs one final time before takeoff.

"I'm going back to sleep, Julia," yawned Tony. "Wake me once we get to Cairo, will you?"

"Of course," giggled Julia and Tony went back to sleep. Julia was also starting to get tired as the combination of the time difference and the late night was now starting to get to her and also fell asleep as the jet taxied towards the runway and took off from New York just a little bit after 1:00am in the morning on October 31, 1999 heading out over Long Island and the southern part of Cape Cod before heading towards Egypt. Little did Julia, Tony and the rest of the passengers and crew know that they would all never make it to Egypt.

Meanwhile, Clint was still bitter over the breakup of Force Works and went back to his apartment to pout over what had just happened.

"They don't need me," he thought to himself as he watched late night television. "They can stay in Egypt for all I care and I don't care if I ever see them again. Besides, Julia is a notorious whore who needs to be put in her place. She may have looked beautiful today, but underneath that dark blue business suit that she is wearing is a monster waiting to pounce on us all. And don't think you are out of the woods either, Tony. You are the one who broke Force Works up in the first place and defeating the Mandarin was not enough to win back my friendship. The only way you can win back my friendship is bringing everyone back together again. Until you do, I hope your damn plane crashes and you and your COO whore die a horrible death."

Clint had no idea how much those words would mean to him and the rest of force works for they would have to come together one last time and the only way they would do that is if something happened to Tony and Julia.

Before sunrise, that chance would soon come…


	4. I Rely on God!

Chapter 4

"I Rely On God"

As Clint continued his relentless brooding over Force Works' breakup, Egypt Air Flight 990 had just climbed up to its cruising altitude of 33,000 feet as it flew over Long Island and was now approaching the southern edge of Martha's Vineyard on Cape Cod, Massachusetts. So far, everything seemed perfectly normal and nothing out of the ordinary was happening. Julia and Tony had a late night dinner and were now falling asleep in each other's shoulders as the cabin lights were dimmed and that the relief crew had now taken over for the middle portion of the flight. The relief co-pilot, Gameel Al-Batouti was at the controls of the jet as it continued its cruise high over the Atlantic. Now, realizing that his chance to carry out his plan of death was nearing, he waited until the relief Captain was out of the cockpit and once the door closed, he silently prayed before he began pushing the plane's nose down towards the Atlantic.

Meanwhile, Julia and Tony along with the rest of the passengers, had just fallen asleep as the plane continued its smooth flight across the Atlantic. Just then, Julia woke up and crept over to the bathroom as she needed to use it again before going back to sleep.

"Maybe now that Tony's asleep," she thought. "I can see if Rachel left me a message."

She had taken her cell phone out of her purse and stuck it in her suit jacket so that she could quickly see if Rachel had left her a message as a result of the two messages that Julia left her in Los Angeles and New York. She finally came across a message from Rachel and listened to it.

"Hi mom," her voice said. "I got your messages and I am sorry that I didn't get a chance to call you earlier. I was over at Stephanie's house and we were listening to Beethoven music as I need to keep practicing for my upcoming recital. Call me when you get to Cairo, Love you."

Julia sighed as she placed her phone back in her suit jacket when suddenly, she felt a sudden jerk and she banged her head against the wall of the lavatory as the plane dropped faster and faster. In the cockpit, Gameel was pushing the plane down faster and faster towards the Atlantic Ocean below.

"I rely on God," he said. "I rely on God." And he kept saying it over and over as the main captain got back in the cockpit as the relief captain was pinned back in his seat at the back of the plane.

"What are you doing?" he shouted as he got back in the captain's seat. "Help me pull up!"

But, Gameel kept on pushing the plane down towards the ocean and finally the jet stopped plummeting as Julia opened the door to the restroom and ran back towards her seat, only to be knocked down to the floor as the plane now began to start climbing back up again.

"Tony, what's happening?!" she screamed. "Something's wrong with the plane!"

"I don't know!" he shouted back. "But get back in your seat and buckle up!"

Julia got up and tried to get back to her seat only to fall back down onto the carpeted aisle of the jet. Now, the jet had climbed back up to 24,000 feet and as Julia got back in her seat, she fastened her seatbelt and grabbed Tony's hand tightly as they and the rest of the passengers braced themselves for impact.

In the cockpit, the captain was desperately trying to regain control of the jet, but the first officer had other ideas.

"Pull with me!" he cried. "Pull with me! Pull with me! Pull with me!"

But Gameel did not respond to the captain's command and kept on saying "I rely on God!" over and over again as the jet grew closer and closer to the Atlantic Ocean.

"Julia!" cried Tony. "No matter what happens, it was an honor to be working alongside you!"

"I loved working with you too, Tony!" replied Julia. "I will always love you!"

Then suddenly, as quick as the ordeal began, the jet hit the ocean with a tremendous force and the cold waters of the Atlantic Ocean rushed into the plane as it broke apart into pieces. Hit with the tremendous force, Tony and Julia were shot from their seats as the first class cabin quickly broke apart killing most of the people inside along with everyone else in the coach class section of the plane.

Having realized that they both survived the crash, Tony undid his seat belt and saw a life raft in the overhead compartment and quickly pulled it out and swam up as fast as he could towards Julia who was floating up towards the surface. Meanwhile, Julia had gotten up to the surface as she saw bits and pieces of the plane and dead bodies floating up to the surface.

"TONY!" she cried. "WHERE ARE YOU!?"

She frantically tried to find something to hold on, but it was no use. She then felt a hand grab her leg and screamed loudly as she tried to kick the force off of her leg.

"Ow, Easy Julia!" cried Tony, who was now up to the surface with the raft in his hands. He opened the package and the raft opened and he climbed inside before pulling Julia in.

"Are you all right?" he asked worriedly.

"I am," gasped Julia. "Are we alive?!"

"We are!" cried Tony. "But I don't see any ships nearby to help us and I don't have anything to attract attention. I don't have any flares or anything."

Suddenly, one of the two engines that were still floating on the water, was on fire and quickly exploded behind them as the raft was blasted away with Tony and Julia hanging on for dear life. After a while,

things quieted down and the two executives just sat in the raft and Julia fainted into Tony's arms as the raft drifted farther and farther away from the wreckage.

The nightmare was over, but the survival story was just beginning…


	5. The Uninhabited Island

Chapter 5

"The Uninhabited Island"

For one whole day and night, Tony and Julia sat in the life raft floating through the Atlantic Ocean towards an uncertain outcome. They had just survived a plane crash caused by the co-pilot and now they were in the midst of what could be the last time that they would be together. Both of them were freezing cold in their wet business suits and the risk of developing hypothermia was very high. Most importantly, their families and friends were probably already aware that both Julia and Tony were dead along with the rest of the passengers and crew and yet, they were still alive. But, as both of them floated in the ocean, they didn't know how long they would still be alive.

Finally, as the sun rose over the Atlantic, Tony had spotted what appeared to be an island just up ahead of them. Of course, trusting his superhero instincts, he had to guess whether the island was uninhabited or whether it was deserted. Julia, who had fallen asleep for most of the journey, woke up and glanced with her CEO and friend over what was just ahead.

"What is it, Tony?" she asked groggerly. "Please tell me you see land, I can't take much more of this boat ride."

"It's an island, Julia," he said excitedly. "Maybe we can get someone to help us out or something. "

Julia sighed heavily thinking that her ordeal was over. She thought maybe now she could get a phone and try to contact her daughter and tell her that she was all right.

"Thank God," she sighed heavily. "My prayers have been answered."

So, they rode the tide and eventually, they washed up on the shore of the island which was surrounded by trees and forests. Fortuantely, the island had a beach and they both got out of the raft and took a good look at the island and what laid inside it.

"Tony," whispered Julia, rubbing her cheek. "I have a feeling we're not in Kansas anymore."

"Make that I have a feeling we're not in LA anymore," added Tony. "There must be someone who lives on this island. We should split up and find someone and then we'll meet back here in an hour, deal?"

"Done," replied Julia and they both split up with Tony searching the western part and Julia searching the eastern part.

"HELLO!" called Tony, as he searched his side of the island. "IS ANYONE OUT THERE?"

He kept on walking through the jungles and felt uncomfortable of the thick brushes that he had to cross through.

"It's too bad I can't call HOMER now," he said to himself. "Maybe he'll know what to do in a situation like this."

He then realized that he couldn't something that was far more important to him.

"If I can't communicate with the outside world," he said to himself. "Then I can't become Iron Man and Julia can't become Spider Woman."

Now, Tony was in despair and he intensified his search for anyone, just anyone to help them. Meanwhile, Julia was feeling the same kind of pressure as she walked on her side of the island.

"WE NEED HELP, HELLO!" she called out, but much like Tony, she was not getting very much luck. "HELP US!"

The frustration of not being able to find someone on this island was beginning to take effect on Tony and Julia. 24 hours after they survived the crash of Egypt Air Flight 990, they were now alone on a desert island with no food, no water and no communication. They later met up at the spot just like they had agreed to meet at to report their findings to each other.

"Did you find anyone?" asked Tony panting.

"No, I didn't," said Julia. "It seems we are the only ones left on this island. But, how are we going to survive if no one's coming to rescue us?"

Tony sighed heavily as he sat down on the beach and stared out in the ocean, realizing that their situation was growing more and more desperate with each passing hour. Suddenly, he saw something floating in the water and coming towards them.

"Julia, look!" gasped Tony. "It's wreckage from the plane."

They ran over and saw what appeared to be packages and debris from the jet that somehow managed to find its way to the island. They ran over to the items that have washed up on shore and opened up the packages to find essentials such as camping equipment, food and clothing.

"Tony, this is amazing!" gasped Julia. "We can survive with all of this until someone rescues us."

"Looks like we are safe for right now!" laughed Tony. "Help me bring this up and we can set up camp."

So, they each took the essentials that washed up on shore and they set up a tent and fire pit overlooking the ocean. Julia took some packaged clothes for women and placed them in an area not too far from the campsite.

She wanted to change out of her wet blue business suit, but was not sure if the clothes that she found were dry or not. When she felt it to see if they were wet, it seemed for a moment that victory would come to her, but it wasn't going to be that way. The clothes were still wet and she was going to have to get used to being in a wet business suit for the time being. Not to mention that she didn't have any proper footwear as her suitcase was lost at the bottom of the ocean, so she would have to rely on her ruined blue high heels, the shoes that she did not want to be wearing right now.

Tony was going through the same predicament as well, but when they went to sleep that night, they were both still uncertain of their future on this island and that the next few days would be the most challenging that they would ever have.

"Tony," asked Julia as they feasted on canned fish that night. "If we ever get out of this, what do you think we should do?"

Tony was quick to respond to Julia's question.

"I think next time we fly the corporate jet," he said. "The days of flying commercial are over for us, Jules."

"But, what if we never get off this island?" wondered Julia, tears forming in her eyes.

"I'm not sure," said Tony, placing an arm around Julia's neck. "But, remember, you've got me and I've got you and we are going to get through this one way or another, do you understand?"

Julia nodded upon hearing these words, but she knew that the worries that were building up inside of her were worries that she would never see her daughter, Rachel, again and was thinking that she was already guessing her mother was dead, a thought that Julia tried to keep out of her mind.

But, the thought would keep crossing their minds and would keep doing so until they both found a way to get off the island…


	6. Exploring the Island

Chapter 6

"Exploring the Island"

The next morning, with the sun rising over the island, Tony and Julia awoke to the start of another day of cold temperatures and cold winds blowing through the island. With only the cold, ruined business suits on their backs, they got up the next morning and decided to walk through the island and search for fresh meat and fruit as well as to better explore the island and what awaited them in the jungles that surrounded the island. Carrying a knife that he found amongst the debris and luggage, Tony and Julia walked through the jungles cutting through trees and brushes that stood in their way. After a short while, they came across a large lake surrounded by even more trees.

"What is this place, Tony?" gasped Julia. "I've never seen anything like this before. This is much more than an island. It seems like its part of Massachusetts."

"How can you tell, Julia?" he said. "It seems like an unclaimed place of land to me."

Clutching her gold pearl necklace, Julia stepped forward towards a cliff overlooking the lake. She then came across what appeared to be a large bomb that had not yet exploded. Tony knew about bombs and told her to stay away.

"Julia, don't go near that!" he called. "It's a bomb. Touch it and it explodes."

"But, don't you see, Tony," said Julia. "If this bomb explodes then someone will notice us and be rescued."

"Well, I am starting to sense what this island is," said Tony cautiously. "I've got a feeling we are on No man's Island."

Julia looked at Tony and clutched her necklace even more. The words No Man's Island sent a cold chill down her spine realizing now that she and Tony were definitely considered lost to the outside world. However, Tony had some reassurance for his Chief Operating Officer.

"This is part of the United States even though it is uninhabited," he said to Julia. "They used to use this island for bombing practices."

"Who did?" asked Julia.

"The US military," replied Tony. "Perhaps if we may be able to carefully detonate one of these bombs and attract the attention of any ship that is passing by."

Tony carefully went down to the bomb while Julia quietly followed and when they got close to the bomb, Tony took his pocket knife and tapped it gently to make sure it was still able to explode properly.

"It can still blow," said Julia nervously. "But, don't you think maybe we could do something more, I don't know, safer like build a fire?"

Tony looked up to the sky and saw the clouds darkening overhead and knew that the day for a fire was not a good one, because the rain would put the fire out before it reached its fullest potential.

"The weather doesn't seem to be agreeing with us," added Tony. "I guess maybe we should start a small fire and test it out before we move on to a bigger one. But, my idea of the bombs is not out of the question yet."

So, they left the bomb behind and went back to their campsite to build a small fire. They gathered sticks, branches and anything to test out the fire and unfortunately one of the items used to burn for the fire was the body of one of the pilots and it just happened to be the body of the co-pilot who deliberately crashed the plane.

"What should we do with him, Tony?" asked Julia, staring down at the body.

"If we keep him intact," answered Tony. "He will start to smell the island with his dead body smell. As much as I hate to do this, we should burn him for putting us in this situation."

Julia was appalled by this suggestion, for she was taught all her life that all Catholics good or evil should be given a proper burial.

"Anthony Stark!" she cried. "Are you seriously considering the fact that you should burn this body? He may have killed over 200 people and put us on this island, but he is a human being and a human being alone. What do you think Iron Man would do?"

Tony stopped for a moment and thought about what Julia had said to him. He remembered the time that he went rogue with his Iron Man armor and ultimately started the Armour Wars that nearly ruined his own reputation. He sighed heavily as the woman known as Spider Woman was right and after all, she was a mother and knew she wanted best for everyone in life, even if they were evil.

"You're right, Jules," he said. "I think you are right about him. But, I still think that if we ever get out of this, we need to tell the world the truth about what this man did to us."

So, they dragged the co-pilot's body to a large tree and Tony dug up a small grave and they threw the body into the grave before digging it up with dirt and sand.

"But, don't say I didn't warn you when we return without his body," snapped Tony, but Julia responded by giving him a scowl on his face, causing him to quickly change his attitude.

"All right, all right," he sighed. "I'll let the matter drop."

"That's better," she replied and walked back over to add a few more branches to the fire. Just then, she noticed a Wilson Volleyball with what appeared to be a blooded handprint on the front with a face on it.

"Tony," she wondered. "What is this?"

"That's our new friend, Wilson," he said. "I cut myself last night pretty bad and I placed my hand on there and I made a friend out of it. Maybe he can keep us company."

"Anthony," grunted Julia. "You are talking to a volleyball. A volleyball that doesn't talk."

Julia was now beginning to realize that Tony was going mad from being on the island and that the man she was looking at was not the man she had always lived her life with.

Julia was now growing desperate to get off the island and get back to civilization as quickly as she could before she too would go mad, but it would not be the case…


	7. The Rescue

Chapter 7

"The Rescue"

For several more days, Julia tried to maintain her sanity as the man she had leaned on for so long was starting to grow delirious from being on No Man's Island for so long and even though they had launched a decent smoke signal, no ships had taken notice for several days and Julia was becoming more and more desperate that she would never see her daughter Rachel ever again.

Now, here she was awaiting the fact that she would spend the rest of her life on an island with no one else besides Tony with her. Her days as Spider Woman and being Chief Operating Officer of Stark Enterprises were all but over and the only thing was wearing was the dark blue business suit she had worn on the day she and Tony boarded Flight 990 to Cairo.

"Rachel," she thought to herself one night as she lay asleep on the beach. "If you are thinking about me right now, I want you to know that I am finding a way of getting back to you as much as I can. When I do return, I am going to give you the biggest hug a mother can give you."

She got up and walked into the jungles and headed over to the lake where for the first time in a while, she stripped off her dark blue business suit, white blouse, high heels as well as the white lace slip, bra and panties she wore underneath and stepped into the cold water. As she sat in the water, Julia knew that the water was cold but at the same time she wanted to get herself wet and at least, rinse off the sweat and the smell of the body odor that was now plaguing her body.

"Ah, that feels good," she sighed to herself. "I don't care if I die of hypothermia, I have been through a lot over the past few days. I may never get out of this alive, but I lived a good life and I raised a wonderful daughter and I have seen her grow up into a beautiful young woman."

She then turned towards the makeshift tent that she and Tony had long since occupied since they arrived on the island. For several days, Tony had contemplated about setting off a bomb to get someone to notice them and have whoever ran the boats come rescue them from this hell that they were living in.

"Oh, Tony," she cried softly. "I wish were the same man that you were when I first met you. If we ever get out of this, I want us to marry again and this time, it will be for real. If only you would be the Tony Stark I knew and love."

After rinsing herself and wetting her long hair, Julia changed back into her business suit and high heels and just as she was walking back to the tent, a light rain began to fall and now that she was starting to get wet again, she wanted to be in an area where she would not get any wet than she already was. So, she ran into a cave and even though it was dark, Julia needed to be alone and away from the nightmare that she was living in. And it was in this cave she once again fell asleep, softly crying for her daughter to be with her and for her boss and lover to be sane again.

Just then, early the very next morning, Julia woke up to hear the sounds of footfalls coming towards her and she scrambled to her feet and armed herself with webbing that she kept hidden in her wrists.

"Who's there?" she cried. "If you are looking for anything valuable, you can take my necklace. But, if you are here to hurt me, I have webbing and I am not afraid to use it!"

The footfalls got even closer and closer to her and a flashlight came right in her face and Julia screamed loudly and a large hand grabbed her and pulled her out of the cave.

"Miss Carpenter!" said the voice. "Calm down! We are here to rescue you!"

Julia calmed down and looked up to see a U.S. Navy officer looking warmly down at her. Julia sighed with relief knowing she was now being rescued from the uninhabited island. She was then led out of the cave and she and the officers were joined by several more officers who were with Tony and Wilson the Volleyball.

Once inside several boats, Tony and Julia left their island prison behind and made their way towards a U.S Navy Warship. As they traveled to it, Julia wondered how they knew they were still alive.

"Who told you we were still alive?" asked Julia to the officer. "You must have seen the smoke signal."

"A commercial pilot descending into JFK Airport reportedly saw the smoke signal coming from this island and we figured you two were the ones who sent the smoke signal up," replied the officer. "Was there anyone else with you two?"

Julia was silent for a moment and then answered the officer's question, tears of relief forming in her eyes.

"No," she sobbed. "It is just the two of us."

Julia continued to sob quietly as she and Tony were brought aboard the U.S. Warship and then taken to a medical office where they were stripped of their ruined business suits and examined by the doctors on board. As she was being examined, Julia cried even harder, relieved that she was now free from the island and on her way back to civilization where both she and Tony belonged.

A few days later, Julia and Tony now in more comfortable clothes and bringing home Wilson the Volleyball, were brought to Boston, Massachusetts and put on an American Airlines Flight to Los Angeles where Rhody, Rachel and the rest of Stark Enterprises were awaiting them as well as the rest of Force Works and Hawkeye, who knew he was wrong to act the way he did.

The moment the plane touched down at the gate was the beginning of Tony and Julia's return to civilization and the return to what they do best: running Stark Enterprises and defending the world as Iron Man and Spider Woman.


End file.
